The majority of curvy women reveal they've been fat-shamed on dating apps

A lot of energy gets put into reinforcing the message that our bodies are beautiful, whatever their size. But then we go and see new stats like this, which indicate that all the hard work is being undone by a bunch of ignorant, undeserving people.

Dating app for plus-sized women, WooPlus, carried out a survey which revealed that 71% of its 1,000 'curvy' users reported having been fat-shamed by men on "regular" dating apps.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

One user reported having "been harassed so many times for both my height and weight. I guess I've triggered some size related existential crises," while another respondent said: "I have also been told that if I were to lose weight that I could pass as a decent looking person."

Seriously, what gives some of these men the right to judge a woman they've never even met based on the shape of her body? What was that your mum always used to say? If you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all? Hmm, might be worth putting that one into practice.

While 29% of WooPlus' users reported having never been called out on their weight by men on other dating apps, many of those did note that they have been rejected due to their size.

Which to some extent is fair enough - each individual knows what they are and aren't attracted to - but it does raise some concerns that this culture of 'swiping' on dating apps, and making judgements based on nothing other than a person's outward appearance, is actually causing more and more people to become increasingly shallow.

And this, in turn, could start reinforcing the message that we need to be some kind of 'one size fits all' society if anyone is going to find us attractive. Which is neither helpful, nor true.

"I've been turned down but not harassed thank god. We us curvy girls deserve to meet someone like any girls. Love has no sex, size, weight," one particular respondent said.

WooPlus is attempting to reduce this unnecessary 'stigma', by creating an environment where larger women can make contact with men who aren't quite so single-minded. And we think that's great. Because our differences are important. I know I don't want to live in some kind of Stepford Wives-esque world where everyone looks and acts the same, anyway.

Newsletter Signup

Don't miss out on Cosmopolitan weekly

Please tick if you would prefer not to receive news & special offers from Hearst Magazines UK, publisher of Cosmopolitan.
Please tick if you would like to receive news & special offers from selected partners of Hearst Magazines UK